A monthly money routine: budget, bills and plan in one hour
A simple monthly routine that uses the budget calculator, the bill calendar and the weekly planner, with a worked example for a two-income household.
Most people do not have a money problem so much as a money habit problem. Bills arrive on different days, the yearly insurance catches you out, and the savings you meant to set aside are gone by the 20th. A short routine once a month fixes most of this. This article shows one, using three free tools that run in your browser: the budget planner for the totals, the bill calendar for the timing, and the weekly planner to turn the jobs into dated reminders. Allow about an hour for the first run and less after that.
Why these tools fit together
Each tool answers one question. The budget calculator asks how much comes in and goes out each month. The bill calendar asks when each payment falls, so you can see the days when the balance dips. The planner asks what you will do, and on which day, so the jobs get done. If you use only the budget, you know your totals but still miss a due date. If you use only the calendar, you see the bills but not whether you can afford to save. Used in this order, the three give you a plan you can trust.
Step by step
1. Budget calculator: set the monthly totals
Open the Monthly budget tab. Under Money in, add each source of take-home pay and choose how often it arrives: monthly, every 2 weeks, or twice a month. Under Money out, add every cost the way you pay it. Groceries are usually weekly, car insurance yearly. Mark each cost as Need or Want.
Read the results. The line that matters most is Left to save / month. Note it, then decide how much of it you will actually save. Keep a little spare for surprises rather than saving every last pound, rupee or dirham.
2. Bill calendar: check the month ahead
Open the calendar and make sure every bill is entered with its real repeat. Then type the money in your account today under Balance, currency and your data. Each day now shows the balance after that day’s bills and pay. Look for red days (days when the balance falls below zero), and check the Coming up list for the next 14 days. If a red day appears, move a payment, or set money aside before it. Tick each bill as you pay it, and download the month as an image, PDF or Word file to print if you like.
3. Planner: turn the jobs into dated plans
Use the quick-add box in the weekly planner to put the month’s jobs on the right days. Type things like Pay car insurance 9am tue or Move savings to the holiday pot fri. Under Settings, set the title on the download to the month name so a printed page makes sense later. Tick each plan off as it is done, and use the Month view to check that no week is overloaded.
A worked example
Ana and Ben take home 2,900 a month from Ana’s job and 1,500 every two weeks from Ben’s. Their monthly money in is 2,900 + 1,500 × 26 ÷ 12 = 6,150.00.
Their money out, per month:
- Rent 1,650, gas and electricity 140, phone 35, childcare 1,100, car loan 380, card minimum 150, streaming 25, eating out 120, transit 110.
- Groceries 95 a week: 95 × 52 ÷ 12 = 411.67.
- Water 120 every 3 months: 120 ÷ 3 = 40.00.
- House insurance 480 a year and car insurance 600 a year, so 1,080 ÷ 12 = 90.00 set aside each month.
The total is 4,251.67 a month, which leaves 6,150.00 − 4,251.67 = 1,898.33 free. They decide to save 1,400 a month (22.8% of 6,150) and keep 498.33 as a buffer.
Ana is paid on the 28th, so when they enter the bills with the money in their account today, the calendar shows the balance after each day. Rent falls on the 1st, soon after pay, and the card minimum falls on the 25th, just before the next pay day. That is the tightest point of the month, so they check that no day turns red. In the planner, Ana adds Move 90 yearly-bill money to the bills pot mon for the first week of the month, so the 90 set aside each month is really moved aside.
They also want a family trip costing 2,400. In the Trip or project tab the planner adds 10% for surprises by default: 2,400 × 1.10 = 2,640. They have 900 saved already, so 2,640 − 900 = 1,740 is still needed. If they want it ready in 6 months, that is 1,740 ÷ 6 = 290 a month. Ben puts 290 of the 1,400 into a separate savings pot.
Finally, Ana types 1,400 into Save each month under Watch your savings grow. At 4% a year, compounded monthly, five years of saving grows to about 92,800 (the 1,400 × 60 = 84,000 she pays in, plus interest). This is an estimate, not a promise: real interest rates change. The same routine next month will show whether the figures still hold.
Tips
- Use the same day each month. Pick the day after pay arrives, and it takes less than an hour.
- Keep the yearly bills visible. The budget’s “set aside” line stops a yearly bill from looking like a surprise.
- Change one thing at a time. If the savings figure falls short, reduce one want rather than rebuilding the whole budget.
- Check the official source for tax, interest and benefit rules. The tools do the arithmetic; the rules for your country can change. This is general education, not personal financial advice.